Final Fantasy VIII
by toasterjapan1
Summary: Six teenagers are brought together through an unusal chain of events and discover that they alone must combat an evil that time itself has never known. Chapter one has been revised Plz. R&R.


**DISCLAIMER**

I do not own Final Fantasy VIII, nor am I associated with it or its creators in any way. This is a novelization of the text, and I only lay claim to the written form, small changes, and original dialogue that does not appear in the game. All else is property of Square Co. Ltd. 1999.

**_Authors' comments_:** I have made small changes to some of the events and dialogue. This is my first fanfic and I want true reviews, please do not hold back. Also credit must be given to the Emerald Princess of Vernea, who is writing an amazing Final Fantasy VII novelization, Limewell, and Abbykat for helping me. Other than that I hope you enjoy it. Thank you.

Written by: toasterjapan1

**Prologue**

"I'll be here."

"...Why?"

"I'll be here...waiting."

"For what?"

" I'll be here waiting...so if you come here...you'll find me. I promise."

The sky was an intensly deep, navy that morning as a young man by the name of Squall was trekking up a small jagged mountainside. He had thick, untidy, brown hair with a silver button in his left ear. As he gleamed into the dark sky, the cold, wet air blew through the thick black leather jacket he wore and rippled about its ruffed up snowy fur collar. Wondering to himself why his classmate Seifer Almasy would want to meet with him for combat training in this kind of weather, he pulled a long blade from its holster across his back, and gripped the handle with black gloves. Toying with the trigger of the revolver at the bottom he continued his journey up the mountain.

As he slowly approached the top of the mountain, sword gripped tightly in hand, he looked around, and found that Seifer was no where to be seen. Slightly annoyed at Seifers' lack of prescence, Squall scoffed and caught eye of Balamb Garden off in the distance back down the way he had come. That was Squalls' home, it had been his home and school as far back as he could remember. As he turned his head away, thunder cracked overhead and a clean, sharp, blade of steel swung across his denim eyes barely missing them. It began to rain, drops pattered against the rock of the mountain, and Seifers' smiling face was lit up by a flash of lightning.

Squall stumbled back away from the blade and raised his own to meet Seifers'. He swung down with a heavy strike, but Seifer easily jumped out of the blades' deadly path. Back and forth the two of them danced, as if in an uncordinated ballet, slicing air, where previously one of them had been. Seifer spun his sword around his wrist and came down against his opponents' in a metallic shriek that echoed across the dark morning sky. _" Isn't he taking this a bit to serious for combat training, I mean he almost caught me with that last strike."_

After several shifts of power between the two of them, Seifers' struggle for gain prevailed. His thrust of the blade had thrown Squall back against the hard rock. Squall felt pain shear through his body. _" Don't do it."_ , He didn't listen to his mind, but instead gathered himself, grasped his weapon from the muddy earth it had sank into, and rose slowly. Seifer gave a little chuckle, then motioned for Squall to give it his best shot.

He came running at Seifer, his gunblade steadily rising above his head. As Squall neared him though, he was thrown back to the ground by a ball of flames that seemed to have conjured itself out of thin air. Before he could rise again though, Seifers' blade came down across his face. Flooded with pain and anger, Squall shoved his blade against Seifers', causing him to stumble back. He had no time to recover, as Squalls' blade came up between his dumbstruck eyes. As Squall backed away, he wavered for a moment, then collapsed to the ground, he could still barely make out Seifers' bloodied face glaring at him as he succumb to darkness.

**FINAL FANTASY VIII**

**Chapter I**

Squall could see someone, someone he didn't recognize, a man who seemed to be a few years older than himself. The man had long black hair and was wearing a dark blue military uniform. Before he could study the man any more though, he heard a voice that threw him into consciousness.

"Squall," The voice said," Squall can you hear me?"

Squall slowly opened his eyes to the bright overhead light of the infirmary, and set up. Trying to bring his world into focus, he put his hand on the back of his head and felt a bandage that wrapped around it several times. He looked over to his right and saw the stout middle-aged form of Gardens' physician Dr. Kadowaki.

"How are you feeling?"She asked slowly.

" My forehead hurts a bit."Squall said still rubbing the bandage on his forehead.

He looked over at the window and saw that it was still raining rather heavily. He wondered for a brief moment about that man he had seen._"_ _Sure did look dorky." _He thought to himself.

Dr. Kadowaki walked over to the window, while looking out it she spoke." It's not showing any signs of letting up."

Squall spoke up again." How long have I been out?"

"Almost three hours." She said as she came away from the dark window." Your eyes seem to be focusing, you should be fine, probably just leave a scar. I think you should take it a little bit easier in training from now on though, you may not be as lucky next time."

" Tell that to Seifer." Squall snorted

" That Seifer...Won't listen to anyone, always paling around with those two other weird kids. What's their names?"

"Uh...Fujin and Rajin." Squall replied." But I can't just run away from Seifer."

" You wanna be cool, huh?"She asked him," Don't get yourself hurt in the process. Anyway I should call your instructor Quistis, hang on i'll be right back." She went off into her office and dialed up to Quistis' classroom. Quistis was Squalls' teacher at the Garden, though she was only a year older than him. She had long strawberry blond hair and entrancing cerulean eyes. She as an instructor and SeeD wore a dress suit of saturated olive with blue and gold embroidery set across the top.

After some time, Dr. Kadowaki returned from her office." She said she'd be by in a bit. I've got a meeting with the headmaster, you don't mind if I leave you for a while do you?"

Squall shook his head and lied back down on the bed as Dr. Kadowaki left. A young girl with short brown hair advanced slowly on the side glass window that looked into the infirmary. She was wearing a sleeveless sky blue top with a white skirt, a lime shawl was draped over her arms. She bent down, her eyes focusing on the young man lying on the bed through the window and gently said in a soft, but siren like voice.

" Squall... so we meet again." Squall turned his head towards the window and barely caught glimpse of the girl as she walked away. He had no time to ponder on the identity of the girl though, for at that moment the door slid open and Quistis came walking into the room. She shrugged and gave a sigh of relief, then gestured for him to get up and said calmly yet demandingly.

" Come on, let's go, today's the field exam."

Squall stood up a little dazed from his injury and staggered towards his instructor. He stumbled a bit and she caught him in her arms. For a moment it looked as if she broke a smile of content across her pale face. She helped him out of the infirmary until he stopped her and insisted that he could walk on his own.

"You sure?" Quistis asked him, a look of concern in her eyes.

Squall nodded, and they began to make their way down the hall. They came out into the cold damp air of the midday storm, to Squall it seemed like it was getting worse. As they continued to walk under the awning back to the Garden, rain pounding on all sides, Quistis finally spoke up.

" I figured it'd be you or Seifer sooner or later."

Squall just seemed to ignore her. His mind was set on the strange young man he had seen, and that girl. Somehow she felt familiar, but he couldn't think why. His thoughts were broken though, as Quistis spoke again.

"Squall is there something on your mind?" But before Squall could answer her she knew what he was going to say.

" Not Really." The two of them said simultaniously. Then suddenly Quistis stopped walking and began laughing rather loudly.

" What's so funny?" Squall asked curiously.

She stopped laughing and looked over at him." Funny? No, no. It's not that! I'm just happy."

_" Happy... in this weather?"_ Squall thought to himself._"_ _She sure is actingweird today." _

She continued." I just feel like I'm beginning to understand my student a little, that's all."

"Heh, I'm more complex than you think."he said as he continued to walk towards the Garden.

" Then, tell me more about yourself."

Squall stopped to look back at her. Her eyes showed that she genuinely wished to know more about him, but rather coldly he just said." It's none of your..."

" ...Business." She interrupted and started to laugh again as Squall becoming perturbed made his way into the Garden.

Coming in to the warmth of the Garden hit Squall rather hard. He followed Quistis down the hall and around the massive pillar in the center. Neither of them had said anything more to each other since they had been outside, nor as they entered the elevator. It rose to the second floor and Squall exited followed by Quistis. One of the faculty members came around the corner and stopped her, with some questions concerning the field exam that was to take place later in the day. Squall stopped and looked back for a moment, then continued down the hall and into the first classroom on the right, where he made his way over to his table. He glanced over and saw Seifer staring back at him, with a bandage wrapped around his head as well, a look of satisfaction on his face.

" I bandaged myself Squall," He blurted out with a laugh." I didn't pass out, and I carried you back to the school, I think that qualifies as SeeD material, don't you?"

Squall just ignored his laughing and looked back down at his laptop as Quistis came into the room.

" Good afternoon class." She said brightly as she made her way to her desk. Some of the students returned her address, some just looked at her smiling, but Squall just continued to stare down at his desk.

" The field exam for SeeD candidates WILL take place this afternoon regardless of weather. Those not participating and those who failed last weeks' written exam are to remain here in the study hall, No exeptions. Field exam participants will have free time for the remainder of the day, and must meet in the entrance hall at 1600 hours for teamformation anouncements, so I will see you all later. Oh and Seifer! Do NOT injure your partner while training. Be careful from now on." Seifer looked slightly outraged by this statment and bashed his fist on the table, as the other students rose and began to file their way between desks to the door.

" Squall I want to talk to you for a minute." Squall rose from his table and made his way up to Quistis' desk. As he approached her desk she looked up at him." Have you ever thought about fire cavern?"

" You mean Ifrit?" Squall said quietly, his mind fading back to their studies of G.F.s' or Guardian Forces. But Ifrit was hardly considered a guardian, he was an evil beast with a senseless lust for blood. No one that ventured into fire cavern had ever come out alive, and no one had ever really seen Ifrit in full view either, only shadowed pictures and drawings. As Squall ran over this several times in his mind, he couldn't help but become excited about it.

" Yeah, I know it would be dangerous, but I think you've got the skill and judgement. I've expressed my thoughts to Cid and he agrees, I mean he's always saying that your one of the best gunblade wielders' and students he's ever seen in his term of office as headmaster."

"Well it would certainly be a nice warm up for the exam, if I don't die." He said chuckling. Quistis was somewhat thrown off by Squall taking his harsh comment so light-heartedly. She didn't state her opinion on the matter, but slightly blushed and said.

"Ok meet me at the front gate in an hour and a half."

" Yeah." Squall told her on his way out the door. He made his way back down the hall and as he came around the corner, he collided with a girl who seemed to be in a rather large hurry, knocking her down.

" You ok?" Squall asked her.

She used her hand as support and got back up.

" There, Tee-hee! I'm fine. Hey did you just come from that class." Squall nodded.

" Then, is home room over?"

" Yeah." Squall told her. He thought she looked kinda funny. She had brown hair that curved out at the top of her ears and deep green eyes. She was wearing the school uniform of a navy blouse top and skirt with white and gold embroidery across the neck.

" Ohhh!" She said stomping her foot on the floor." This place is so much bigger than my last Garden. Oh, hey, hey, I just transferred here do you think you could give me a tour of this Garden?"

" Sure." Squall said." Follow me." After taking the elavator back down to the first floor. He proceded to show her the school directory which was a digital map consisting of each area of the Garden. After some time she thanked him and asked if he was taking the field exam later.

" Maybe we'll see each other later, see ya."

As she walked off out of view, Squall decided that he would go lie down for a bit. He made his way to the dormatories to take a small eye rest. As he lay there, dreams and visions of the strange looking young man began to flood back into his mind. Squall saw as he started to drift away that the man had faded pine eyes and a pale white face.

Squall was awoken with a jolt as he heard a knock on his door. He opened it found himself face-to-face with a blond-haired boy about his age. The boy had a large black pattern tattooed up the right side of his face and seemed rather muscular, save for his somewhat dorky appearance.

" Your Squall right?" He asked.

"Yeah, what do you want?"

" Instructor Trepe is waiting for you. She said you were supposed to be at the front gate thirty minutes ago."

" Oh, thanks." He said rather annoyed.

" No pro..." the boy began as Squall proceded past him before he could finish."

" Okay...Your Welcome!" He said loudly clapping his hands in a rather nervous way and pointing towards Squall, as he ran down the hall. A girl with brown hair in a ponytail whispered something to one of her friends and they both giggled as the blond-haired boy looked towards them before they proceded back around the corner.

Squall came running up to the entrance gate where he saw Quistis waiting in a pink top and skirt, with sleeves of deep violet. She looked into his eyes for a moment seeming almost entranced, before Squall said.

" I fell asleep."

" That's all right I sent a boy named Zell to find you, I figured you had." There was a strange silence that Squall was not very fond of though he was a rather silent person.

" Uh... are you sure your ready Squall?" She asked breaking the silence.

" Yeah." Squall said reaching down and grabbing one of the small metal cases strapped to his pants. He then cocked open his revolver and loaded the bullets from the case into each chamber. When he was finished he cocked it back and rolled the blade up over his shoulder into his back holster. Looking up at the overcast grey sky, for it had finally stopped raining, he said in a voice somewhat hurried to get this over with.

"Let's go." And as he made his way out of the main gate, Quistis felt her heart pounding against her ribs. She had never been happier.


End file.
